sportif (II)
by Tess 4 5
Summary: Who said she only had learned Aikido? Who said he only had practised rowing at Eton? And who said that a free afternoon after a frustrating case in an upperclass snobbish society in some Scottish town must stay boring by spending it with waiting for the flight back home for more than 24 hours? (This is not a sequel to sportif!)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's usual notes and disclaimer:** I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of _my_ stories and the developments _I've_ let them go through.

Please write a PM if I did something terribly wrong. Thanks!

Please read and review! More thanks!

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 **Summary:** Who said she only had learned Aikido? Who said he only had practised rowing at Eton? And who said that a free afternoon after a frustrating case in an upperclass snobbish society in some Scottish town must stay boring by spending it with waiting for the flight back home for more than 24 hours?

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 **Author's notes:** This turned out to be longer than I intended and so I've splitted it (the next chapters still need some polish). I hope it also is better than I first had thought it would be. Thanks to Cats for a certain scene in this story I've shamelessly borrowed from her. Though it's taken out of its original context somehow it fits into my story.

Ladies and gentlemen - stretch your tendons, warm your muscles! Enjoy once more to be...

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 **Sportif (II)**

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 _"You_ what _?!" he gasped._

 _"I've been practising it for years." she answered as if it was absolutely nothing unusual._

* * *

DI Tommy Lynley and DS Barbara Havers aimlessly drove around in the small car they had been given by the local police for the time they had to stay up there in some town in the Scottish Lowlands. They had needed some distraction on this afternoon because they were stuck in that town for the next 24 hours until the flight back home to London would depart from Edinburgh. They had to stay another day in that tiny B&B where the accident had happened in the backyard. That it was an accident was not clear at all at the beginning of their investigation because it had looked as if every single one of those snobs had hated him, had a motive, alibis relating to each other and a possible way to have him stabbed by that fork. But the webcam they had found in the end (...don't ask! It looked as if some of the juniors had wanted to film the lovers who came there on some kind of regular basis...) showed no intervening of third parties. So now the two Metropolitain Police officers were not convinced at all but they had to close the files.

At the moment they were driving around, watching the landscape and the picturesque Scottish villages, sitting close in that ridiculously tiny car - too close for Tommy's liking. Her perfume made him nervous. They were nibbling some salted crisps and looked out of different windows. Driving around was not exactly thrilling but it was better than sitting in their rooms or hanging around in the pub, maybe drinking alcohol too early in the day.

So for now Tommy manoevered the car through narrow streets and had a hard time concentrating on the road with her perfume in his nose, her face visible in the corner of his eyes, her humming in his ear - he had turned on the radio because he had not wanted to talk nonsense and had not known what he could say to her. Somehow she still was a bit pissed off about those people involved in that 'non-case'. But now she was bobbing her head in the rhythm of the song and hummed the melody. Tommy had a strangely deep feeling for her since lately and was constantly trying to suppress it. Since their friendship had grown stronger lately he tried it with decreasing success, even more so when she was so near to him. But she was his friend and he knew her opinion about 'his lot', especially after this case. Probably there never would come the chance that she would see more in him than just her DI, her good friend that accidentally was the eighth Earl of Asherton.

He did not know that his sergeant evenually had decided that it did not matter at all but she better stayed his friend and not risk that by telling him that there was more developing. She never indulged in more than imagination and a few unobserved long looks and quick hidden glances. Their usual banter and bickering still was a game for them though lately Barbara had found more courage to play her witty irony on Tommy.

He loved that.

* * *

But now they were sitting in that car in companionable but slightly nervous silence. A few moments ago they had driven past a public golf course that made Barbara mutter that the Scots do it right with their everybody-could-do-it-way concerning that sport.

"Not like we English people!" she had snorted.

"What? Golf? Oh, it's an expensive sport, Barbara, so it's no wonder that you mostly have rich people playing it."

"Yah, but if you subtract the care for the grounds - which could be solved otherwise if you ask me - it's just expensive when you have enormous numbers of golf carts, an overstylish club with clubhouse of the best class, servants here, servants there and if you still ask me - most of the clubs, I mean the irons and woods, could be lended. As well as the bags and balls and tees and if there would be more clubs, I mean the associations, in which the members organise the care for the grounds and everything by themselves, all would have to pay less money. Not to mention that you don't really need those brand-name clothings and expensive equipment and usually just a few different clubs and not the whole range!"

Lynley had listened to her talking about the injustice most not-so-well-situated golfers endure until he had asked her how it came that she obviously knew about the situation in that sport and she had answered "Because I _do_ play golf."

"You _what_?!" he gasped.

"I've been practising it for years." she answered as if it was absolutely nothing unusual. "Well, recently not really often, but I used to once. Back in history." Then she told him that it had been an opportunity back in her youth when she had an older (at that Barbara rolled her eyes to emphasise that it had been a _very much_ older) boyfriend who had a teaching job at one of those upper class golf societies and so she was allowed to play with him there without being a member. He was a good teacher but since the boyfriend eventually had become history she had looked out for another club and found the Trent Park Public Golf Course in Southgate where she unregularly made a round. **  
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"Not so much spare time these days to spend hours on the green..." Barbara sighed.

"Unbelievable..." he mumbled shaking his head and pensively looking at his colleague. _Still waters..._ he thought. But then his eyes returned back to the road and they went on watching the landscape. Although Lynley made her even a bit more nervous since he eventually had started to fidget with his mobile all the time.

"Sir, you shouldn't do this while you're driving!" Barbara warned him.

"Yes, you're right, Sergeant. I just had turned on my sat nav. Here we are." He turned into a road with a big wooden sign saying that this was the way to a golf course.

"You're not serious, are you?" Barbara asked. She feared he was up to a golf match.

"Well, I used to play golf in my youth, so why not spend the time until we return home with some holes on the green in the fresh Scottish air? Anyway it's like a little walk through the meadows and better than driving around in this car."

"Oh, how 'romantic', Sir." Though it was said with an ironic accentuation she looked forward to that walk. Recently they had become very good friends and had spent much time together even on one or the other simple walk through a London park.

Tommy shot her a quick glance. _Indeed, with you it could be._

* * *

Barbara could not really believe it at first but after they had checked in accompanied by a constant grin on Tommy's face and since they actually were able to lend two sets of clubs they both went to the first teeing ground. It was late noon on a sunny day at the end of September and the promise of a very nice afternoon lingered in the air.

"That's crazy, Sir." she laughed and was absolutely pleased about this pastime.

"Have you seen the receptionist's face?" Tommy murmured. "He only became friendly after he had heard my title."

"That's always happening when you pull your nobility card, Sir."

"Now _that_ 's crazy." Barbara looked at him with a shaking head but Tommy only grinned again. "Well, now you can prove that you're _in_ this posh sport, Barbara. Heads or tails?" He produced a penny.

"I am the Queen." Barbara chuckled but lost the coin toss.

"Ok, I might only be a number - but I'll start. Here we are." He was about to bend down but decided to put a little kick in the game and set a prize first. "What's the prize in that competition?"

"Competition?" Barbara raised an eyebrow.

"Of course! I suggest stroke play?" Barbara nodded at that. "And if you need less than me, I'll let you drive the car - I mean _my_ car! - during the next case or at least for one week." Barbara was flattered that he trusted her with his beloved car but then again she thought he knew he would win anyway. "I think playing this nine-hole-course once is enough."

"M-hm. And if _you_ win, Sir..." _And I truly believe I can't compete with your education and experience..._ She had to think a bit. "I promise I'll let you take the lead in our next case and won't complain about your strange ideas, whatever you think."

"No way, Barbara, your objections are too inspiring." Tommy smiled. "Always."

"Oh, are they? Nice to hear _that_."

"Give a different wager."

"Well... what about... I'll be the mermaid." She laughed. Short time ago Tommy had told her of a charity event Peter once had organised for Cornwall orphans where Tommy had been auctioned off in thirty minute blocks. One of those blocks had been bought by the jealous husband of a woman Tommy had had to dance with during the previous block. That man had made him sit on the dunking stool over the harbour instead of the mermaid. It had been so much fun for Nanrunnel (not for Tommy!) to make one of the Ashertons go swim so Peter had made it an annual event. He even had had his mother sitting there for her half hour, not in the mermaid's costume of course. And Tommy truly did not look forward to sit there again.

"Ok, so we have a deal." Tommy showed an audacious grin. "I'm looking forward to not only see you in that costume but to send you down into the water." His eyes were sparkling.

"Oh, hell, of this I'm sure. But no costume!" Barbara shook her head but was grinning nonetheless.

"You bet!" Tommy's grin widened.

* * *

After they had agreed on the prizes Tommy pinned his tee into the ground and tentatively placed his golf ball on it. He took his stance and looked out onto the fairway. Then he corrected his stance and made a stroke through the air. He corrected his stance again. He actually looked like he was making a show of it.

 _Oh, for Christ's sake, I'm going to make a fool of myself._ Actually he was a bit nervous because his last real game of golf was decades ago. But he could not believe that Barbara had played on such a regular basis like he once had at Eton and even later on so he was sure he would be able to teach her some tricks. In fact he looked forward to showing her some swings. He felt a little twitch in his stomach when he had a particular scene in mind. But for now he had to concentrate on his own swing. Seeing Barbara in a mermaid's costume - that was his incentive. Tommy hid a salacious grin.

His eyes went across the fairway again and he changed his grip on the club once more. Another swing through the air followed before he dared to step closer to the tee to make his first stroke but that was when Barbara had watched him long enough.

"Sir? Are you going to start or shall I help you give your ball some action?" Right after she had said it she was shocked of herself. _Oh, dear, how did_ that _sound?!_

Barbara saw Tommy's shocked eyes and had to turn away chuckling when she realised that he had heard the same double meaning and saw his red ears. _Touché!_ she thought but glanced again in his direction. Tommy's concentration was on the tee again and she could look at him properly. Since it was a day off he was in a tight T-shirt instead of shirt, tie and jacket and after he had stroked and stood still with the club still in the air, his hips slightly twisted, Barbara recognised the play of his muscles under the stretched cloth. She harrumphed when she caught herself staring and stepped up to the point from where she wanted to play her own first stroke.

After she had sent her first ball on its way accompanied by an appreciative whistle by her DI about its range they took their bags. She swung hers onto her shoulder and Tommy, who had not been quick enough to help her like a real gentleman would have done, saw the play of her arm muscles. She obviously did not need help at all. He marveled at her sportiness that always was hidden under her oversized clothes. Like her female figure.

 _Behave, old man!_ he thought and thudded himself forward. _Oh heavens, this will be a challenging afternoon._ It would be hard not to stare at her the entire time. At this point he already cursed himself for starting this afternoon golfing.

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 **Author's note:** Thanks for reading and reviewing!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's notes:** Thanks for the reviews! I can't get rid of the feeling that you are trying to push me into writing a mermaid story but actually I have absolutely no idea about how. So for now I leave that fishy thing (LOL) to your imagination and you have to content yourself with a walk on the green ;-)

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 **Sportif (II) - chapter 2  
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Side by side they walked towards the tiny white orbs on the fairway. For a short while they stayed silent. While Tommy hummed the melody of the Beatles song _Baby you can drive my car_ Barbara read the information leaflet for herself. It showed maps of each hole and gave a little instruction for those who never had played golf or even seen the sports equioment before. _Each club is composed of a shaft with a lance on the top end and a club head on the bottom._ Suddenly she blushed because she found herself thinking of something completely different. _Get a grip, good girl, it's not_ that _urgent, is it?! And he sees nothing but his good friend and colleague in you. Absolutely. Nothing. More.  
_

She was shaken out of her thoughts when Tommy asked her how on earth it had come that she had continued this, like she named it, _posh english sport_.

Barbara told him that in her youth which was "looong, looong ago -"

"Bollocks..." he murmured.

"...okay, which is only looong ago... I've played with that former friend... boyfriend... bloody bloke." She shook her head, briefly lost in some memory. "Ah, well... It was a nice sport - still is! Not too much action, in the fresh air, could even be played solitary. I just have tried to go on with it after he... broke up with me."

Tommy shot her a quick glance and saw in the expression of her face that for her it was not an easy break-up with still bad memories. _What an idiot!_ he thought and from that point on waited for the chance to leisurely put an arm around her shoulders.

"Not easy because even when you've bought used irons and woods you have to pay for this and that - balls, tees, club membership - I've quit _that_ after a short time..." She rolled her eyes and Tommy nodded understandingly. "Eventually I've found a golf course where you could play without a membership to the club but still it was a bit too expensive for my income and then sometimes I had saved up enough money to play some rounds but had no time. Dad... mother... you know it." Her smile was kind of apologetic. "My job!" she added.

"Still a nice hobby." Tommy interjected.

"Yah, right, but then there came the times when I had all the time in the world but had spent all my money on a nursing home, a mortgage, a bloody car..."

"I remember. What about this... _stupid_ boyfriend who... has left you? There's your golf ball."

"He stayed in that club, made a career there as a professional trainer." Barbara searched for the right stand. "And had turned into a really posh snob... A high society arsehole!" she snorted while getting ready to make her second stroke.

Tommy laughed. "Seems to me you have a natural allurement to such types." He grinned and wriggled his eyebrows making it clear that he was referring to himself.

Barbara blushed. "Bollocks..." she objected and stroked her ball with a heavy drive. "You're no arsehole."

* * *

Tommy managed to do an equal drive. It was hard since Barbara had taken off her thin grey sweat jacket and now only had been in a sleeveless shirt. It was getting warmer. While talking and waiting for her to finish her stroke he had watched her. She had swung through the air two times before she had stepped closer and hit the ball. Her breasts had been lined out under her T-shirt in the moment when she had stood still after her stroke and had watched where the ball flew, her club still in the air, oblivious to his dreamy eyes. It was almost like she had watched _him_ previously without _him_ noticing.

"Perfect..." he had mumbled and quickly had diverted his eyes in the direction of the putting area where her ball had landed. He dearly had hoped that Barbara would not see his blushing face. For his liking he definitely recognised too much of the beautiful woman that she was. He thought that this was not good for their working relationship or for their wonderful friendship. And probably Barbara did not answer his lately discovered deep feelings for her.

"Thank you, Sir."

While they were walking to the area cut down to a few millimetres of grass they actually talked about the oh so interesting topic of the weather. Barbara's thoughts were diverted again away from the game when Tommy crouched down to study the last yards between his ball and the hole. She just had eyes for his not too badly shaped bottom. Her eyes innocently went into the sky when he got up again turning to her and stating that this might be quite a distance but it was plain and even and so it would be an easy thing.

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In fact the first hole was an all easy one. Both made their second stroke from the fairway onto the putting green and both rolled their balls into the hole with one putt so in the end both scored Par.

Barbara had placed her ball a few feet further away from the hole than Tommy and in the end it almost did not hit it with her first stroke. That was when she already _knew_ he would win. And she thought that if he would be getting the pleasure of putting her onto the dunking stool and probably sending her into the water himself, she would be giving _her_ self the pleasure of rewarding him for his victory with a kiss. _That's a good idea!_ It would appear totally innocent when she would simply congratulate him and then raise herself onto tip toes and then he would politely bend down a bit - because he never would make the situation embarrassing by giving her the runaround - and meet her halfway and then she would give him a brief kiss. On his lips. They would be soft and firm and of course she only would give him a _very_ brief kiss. Only to congratulate him on the victory. And maybe he would answer that innocent kiss. And maybe... Barbara sighed by that prospect.

While she had taken her time with focused putting he had taken out his reading glasses and the notepad to write down their scores. First he had read the instructions how to fill in that form and after putting Barbara had some time to watch him. She loved the view of him with his reading glasses, looking so intellectual, so warm, so... distinguished. And she had to admit to herself that she especially loved _that_. Actually she found that he looked sexy with those specs so now she was standing still and adored this view until Tommy finally felt her eyes on himself.

Quizzically he looked up and then smiled. "Are you dreaming?"

 _Yes!_ "NO!" This was too quick and too loud. "No, Sir, I was just wondering that you could just write down the scores and continue."

Tommy grinned and pushed back the lock of hair that had fallen into his face. Barbara swallowed and briskly turned away.

 _Holy! This afternoon will be a real challenge._ she thought while she was grabbing her golf bag, cursing herself that she had agreed on this match.

* * *

On the way to the second teeing area Barbara again took out the information leaflet from the reception.

"Here I have a leaflet from the reception - the rules of golf." She waved the leaflet through the air and laughed. "They not only show the maps but also give instructions how you have to play it. This manual says the game of golf is mainly 'playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules'. The way they express it here in the following text sounds like a really brutal game." Arriving at the teeing ground for the second hole she chuckled and let her golf bag thud to the ground.

"Alright, Miss Havers." she loudly said to herself while preparing. "This is a long course. Full force now! Be brutal! BAAAMMM!"

Tommy laughed. "That's quite some strange language for a golf course. _Miss Havers_."

"Here in Scotland it's a game for commoners. _Your Lordship_." Proudly she raised her chin. "And I _am_ a commoner, so I _speak_ like a commoner."

"No, you're just crazy, Barbara, and absolutely _not_ common!" He smiled up to her from where he placed his ball onto the tee. "Very crazy, but that makes you so interesting. Aaah, curse it!" he had made a very lame stroke and his own ball flew only about a hundred yards. He had lacked a bit of concentration with this ball he admitted to himself.

Ignoring his, well, let's say, _compliments_ Barbara shook her head about that failure. "A real _stroke_ , Sir, not some tender stroking." _Oh, god, no, Barbara! Not again. Behave and watch your thoughts! And your tongue!_ "Think of... Hillier in his worst mood!" She should follow her own advice.

He shot her a brief look saying _And not about you in my arms!_

There was far too much of what she would describe as affection in his eyes though she quickly dismissed it as only in her distracted imagination. Barbara diverted her eyes to the green trying to hide her blush. Her hair streamed in the upcoming wind, her cheeks were rosy - Tommy simply adored her. Fortunately she did not see his hands shaking while she put her hair into her usual messy ponytail before she swung her golf bag onto her shoulder.

* * *

Both first strokes went onto the fairway but his second stroke, though hit with force and driven long in order to make good for his lame first one, went into a bunker nearby and not into the putting area where it should have ended.

"Aaaaand..." he had said after he had swung the club and watched the ball flying. "...off into the bunker! Aaah, crumbs!" _Damn, I'm too distracted by this woman._ He shot a quick glance at Barbara who openly smirked.

"Up for a lazy day at the beach, Sir?" she asked on their way to her own ball.

Tommy mumbled something under his breath and finally added in exact the same moment when she swung her club "Oh, with you in a bikini? And a fishtail? Always a pleasure."

She placed her own next ball into the same bunker. His efforts to distract her obviously had worked well.

"Come along with me to the beach?" he chuckled.

"I'm just trying to be nice and keep the score interesting." She glared at him. He knew he had brought her out of her concentration and now it was his turn to openly grin.

* * *

While they trudged across the fairway to the sandy pit Tommy finally got the chance to put an arm around her shoulders though it was just for a few moments before they had to cross a little bridge over a brooklet. Barbara had hoped he would place his arms there again but unfortunately he did not. He did not dare. It had been too pleasurable and he had been able to smell her hair. He almost had kissed her head.

They were talking about his early times with this sport. At Eton they not only practised rowing, they also had offered other sports like fencing, tennis or golf. "But my years of practice are long gone. I was not overly interested in it and so I just played the occasional rounds with business partners."

"And high ranking police officers? Like Webberly?" Barbara asked.

"Gods, no. But indeed Hillier swung the club quite often. I was invited to some of his matches, even when I still was Detective Constable. He had liked to be bathing in the light of the acquaintance of a real noble man, whatever his rank in the Met was." Tommy snorted. "Always _such_ a great fun I couldn't always evade. Especially when I had been a rookie..." They had reached the sand bunker. "Where's my bloody ball? See, you've shoved a mound of sand in its way. That's cheating! Referee!" Grinning he had raised his voice and cried out into the unpeopled nature.

"Oh, shut up, Sir. Hit it!" Barbara laughed. "You'll probably bury mine under the sand with your stroke."

His ball landed in the rough only two yards away from the bunker.

"Your hands don't seem to be in the best position on that club, Sir, may I show what _I_ was taught?" Barbara offered.

 _You better not touch me._ Tommy thought but before he could politely reject it Barbara already was directly behind him, standing very close, almost touching. He instinctively leaned back so his back made a brief contact with her chest. Barbara immediately stepped away again since she also realised that it would not work this way - and that she had not thought before invading his personal space. She never would get rid of his scent for the rest of the day. She cursed herself.

"Nah, it doesn't work this way." she said a bit husky. "You're too tall. You have to go on doing it like you do. Sorry." She quickly turned to her own ball and prepared herself to get it out of the sand trap.

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 **A/N:** Please read and review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's notes:** Thanks for your reviews! :-)

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 **Sportif (II) - chapter 3  
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She tripped a bit to the left and to the right, turned a bit and finally was ready for her drive when Tommy suddenly was right behind her. Barbara's heart skipped a beat, her lung forgot to breathe. His nose was in her hair, his arms were around her, his hands were placed together with hers around the shaft of the club and he murmured right into her ear. "Well, I could learn it by just standing here right behind _you_ and follow your skilled moves with the club. And later I should try to recall them." _Oh, and I will_ never _forget the feeling of you and your adorably unobtrusive scent._ He closed his eyes and deeply inhaled.

She heard it. Her hands started to clench around the club and her eyes briefly closed to compose herself. She harrumphed before she addressed him.

"Sir, that's not sportsmanlike. Not at all. You just try to put me out of my concentration..." She wanted nothing more but lean back into his chest, close her eyes and keep them shut and stand there with his arms around her. She would not move a single inch.

"Does it work?" His voice was not much more than a whisper now that he felt Barbara leaning back ever so softly and touching his chest with her shoulder blades.

 _You have no idea!_ Barbara turned her head and only glared at him. Her voice was a bit shaky when she told him to get out of her personal space. _Or I'll be forgetting my good resolutions._ "Or I'll ask the referee to impose an additional point to your scores."

"Well, well, but who's the referee?" he cheekily grinned.

"Me." Barbara pouted.

Tommy laughed but already had stepped back. The proximity was too much for his own self. His lips almost had touched her skin. Inwardly he cursed himself for not trying to test the water, to check out how she would react when he would have closed his arms around her waist and when he would have kissed her little smooth earlobe but now that moment was gone anyway.

It had not been easy but both had managed to leave the sand bunker in one stroke. Now Tommy had to reach the putting green from the rough. Barbara had it slightly easier since her ball had landed on the edge of the fairway. Both had to calm down secretly from that physical incident. Both tried to behave as if nothing extraordinary had happened.

It really was not easy.

* * *

When Tommy managed to help Barbara getting her golf bag onto her back he unintendedly touched her bare shoulder and again she felt breathtaking electricity bolting through her. His hand jerked away briefly but then he boldly let the tips of his fingers ghostily glide down her naked arm. For a brief second he hoped that she had not felt it but then he sensed goosepimples rising all over her skin. He asked himself if the sound he heard when she sucked in some air was a pleased sound but he could not see her face. Barbara simply had murmured a silent "Thank you, Sir." and had walked on without turning.

In capital letters she had had to tell her silly mind that his touches were unintentional. _All_ of his touches. _Like when he was behind you?_ the other little voice in her head had mentioned. _Do you really think that had been an... what? Accident?!_

Following her a few steps behind Tommy needed to say something. Anything to get his mind and body away from this little physical meeting. So he stated that he indeed had not been at the beach for quite some time. "It's time for grand summer holidays. I really should take a few days off and go to Cornwall when we return from this case. Enjoy the coast as long as it is such a good weather. Don't you want to join me? It's not the Riviera but we have some nice secluded beaches near Nanrunnel." _Where we could have a picknick, bathe nude, make- STOP IT!_

"I don't think I should bother you or your family in your holidays, Sir." Barbara mumbled.

"Ah, bollocks. My mother loves to have guests in the huge manor and you are more than just a guest. Didn't you hear Judith? You're part of the family, Barbara!"

She would love to come with him but for her own safety she declined to accompany Tommy. She was not sure if her composure would survive a full week of his innocent proximity and matey friendship when she already tripped over a day of jolly golf play with some lighthearted frivolities. She could not imagine that his proximity had been everything else but innocent.

"Well, when you lose this match you have to come anyway." Tommy laughed. "Next weekend we have this charity thing. And a little bird has told me that a certain Detective Sergeant would be the mermaid."

"Oh, blimey..." Barbara managed a strained laugh.

* * *

Their efforts to bring their balls from rough and fairway into the putting area were successful and silently they walked the rest of the way there. Tommy already could see from a distance that it looked like his ball had landed at the outermost edge of the putting green and knew he would not putt it with one stroke. Also he knew that Barbara would win if she would go on distracting him like she did and so his thoughts already wandered to the end of their nine hole competition.

He would shake Barbara's hand congratulating her. He would smile and she probably would smile back. Then he would not let go of her hand but bend down closer to her face, closer to her lips. His heart made a jump by the sheer imagination of her breath in his face. He imagined that he would manage a brief moment of hesitation to give her time to back away but of course he hoped she would not. Then he would give her a kiss. A kiss fully onto her lips. Softly, gently, not too long, just to test the grounds, just to make sure it was appreciated. Tommy dearly hoped it was. He dearly hoped she would even answer his kiss. He pictured how he then would kiss her once more, still soft and gentle but definitely deeper, longer and without their joint hands between them. Or maybe still _with_ their hands between them. But definitely different.

* * *

"Here we are. You first." Barbara's voice had brought him out of his dreamland. They've left the fairway. Tommy indeed had brought his ball from the rough onto the putting green only one yard away from its edge. Now he took his time preparing for the second putt. He needed that time.

It not only was quite a distance he also still had to calm his nerves. He still was under the influence of the imaginary kiss and additionally Barbara was walking through his viewing direction. This was not helpful either.

"While you keep fiddling with your ball, Sir, I raise the flagstick for you or-" Barbara stopped midsentence and was glad that he only could see her back. _Bloody hell, what am I saying_ now _?!_ "...or do you think what I think - you won't hit the hole... from that long distance." _Gosh, that's no jot the better!_

Tommy's head had shot up. His eyes were wide and he really wondered if Barbara was doing it on purpose or inadvertently. She _had_ to notice the double meanings in her words. Or was it just his smutty mind? He could have sworn that Barbara's cheeks were a bit rosy.

"Since you've offered it - it'd be nice, thank you." Tommy looked down again and tried to get his concentration onto the white orb in the short grass. "So I don't have to do it on my own." _Damn! Now I'm doing it myself._

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Pretending he was checking the grass and predicting the ball's way he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. Resting on that flagstick Barbara watched some ducks in the nearby water. She was not really watching. In fact she was thinking about this afternoon and that nice but dangerous little game of golf with her DI. She told herself that she only should start watching her words. Her cheeky mind and her mindless mouth only would get her into real trouble when Tommy finally would notice it and- _And what? He couldn't reprimand you, Barbara, it's a_ private _afternoon. Probably it would only become embarrassing like hell..._ She sighed. And then there was the offered time at Howenstow. That was alluring too. _And frightening._

Tommy watched her. Her cheeks weren't as rosy as he had thought they were a few moments ago. He watched her hand that was clenched around the flagstick with white knuckles, watched her fingers, he watched how she absentmindedly stroked the flagstick with her thumb, he watched how her whole appearance sends his mind into delicate territory again. He swallowed and forced himself to keep concentrated on the ball at his feet but of course he did not hit the hole with his first putting strike. His golf ball rolled past the target in the distance of about one foot. Even his second try did not hit the hole. It only wobbled past its edge.

"It's narrow, this little hole, isn't it?" Barbara chuckled amused.

Tommy kept his eyes down on the grass and did not look up at her when he answered "Difficult target indeed."

 _Oh hell, stop sending my thoughts into the gutter, lady!_

Her putt was far more easier than his and she only needed two attempts. Meanwhile Tommy had whipped out the scoring sheet from the back pocket of his trousers. While writing down the numbers and looking over the rim of the sheet he watched Barbara's back during her putt. The ball was long dumped, the scores were long noted and he still kept his eyes on her bottom, watching the cloth of her jeans stretching over it while she bent for her putted ball, watching her bottom swaying to her golf bag a few steps away.

Tommy's hand slightly trembled. _Had she always had that beautiful figure? Did she always sway like this? Am I going insane?_

"Oops!" His head red as a beet he picked up the pen from the grass.

* * *

Fortunately it was a short way to the teeing ground of the third hole. Unfortunately they had to wait a few moments there. Barbara feigned deep interest in the swings of another group of golfers on the teeing ground of the fifth hole that happened to be next to theirs. The etiquette on these two joint teeing grounds required that they would wait until the others had finished so there always would be only one party driving the ball. The others were four people in total which provided a good time for Tommy to once more have a look onto the map of this third hole they were playing. And this provided Barbara an opportunity to once more melt under the impression of Tommy with his glasses and the interested concentration in his face when he read. She sighed and quickly looked out for something else to look at.

Having heard her sigh Tommy looked up. Barbara was busy with something at her golf bag. While he removed his glasses he watched her pensive facial expression when she thought about which club she should use. Her brows were furrowed, her lips slightly pursed. In her own special way she had her nose crinkled. He blinked when he thought he saw that her nostrils were flaring. Then Barbara bent down and her fingers that were delicately setting her ball on its tee made Tommy think of her fingers on his skin. How she would tickle-

[PLINK]

The sound of her club hitting the ball brought his mind back down to earth. Her ball had landed somewhere in the rough.

"If I may mention, the aim of this sport is to get the balls into the mown area." Tommy said with a cheeky grin and tried to hide that he realised the double meaning in his words.

"Hm?" Barbara turned her eyes away from the waving grass where she had dumped the ball. Remembering his balls landing in the rough and the bunker, that is to say with her mind still on this game of golf, and only halfheartedly suppressing an equally cheeky grin she asked "Like _you_ do?"

Then the words sunk in and the double meaning made her grin even more but despite her own flushing face because though he had tried to hide it she had seen his ears turn red.

Tommy's first ball of course also went into the rough.

"Seems to me that you are a friend of the rough play too, Sir." Barbara laughed, now becoming a bit nervous about their conversation, and hid her blush by starting to walk towards their golf balls. _I should stop those innuendos!_

 _You'd better stop those innuendos_ soon _, Miss Havers!_ Tommy thought and followed her shaking his head. _You are making me nervous!_

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 **Author's note:** Please read and review! Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's notes:** A nine hole golf course, huh?! Phew!

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 **Sportif (II) - chapter 4  
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Since the weather had turned a bit more windy she now was really glad that she always had her hair tie in a pocket. She was wearing long hair now which she thought was looking very much better than those short fringes she once used to have. _Even Tommy had changed his- Stop calling him Tommy!_ she chided herself while thinking of the dark haired man next to her. The length of his hair also had changed over the years. It had been too short or too long and on one or the other day off he obviously even forgot to shave. Like he had today. The little two-day-old shadow in his face probably was a bit scratchy. _Or soft?_ Barbara swallowed. As if on clue Tommy scratched his chin and then raked through his hair again to keep it away from his face. It was a hopeless endeavor.

"You should pay a visit to the hair dresser, Sir." Currently his hair was short in his nape and a bit longer on top. But of course it still kept falling into his face. _Gee, it's none of my business! But he shouldn't cut it_ too _short._ Barbara thought and hit another sand bunker. "Blimey!"

"You don't like it long?" Tommy asked. His ball went from one rough to the other.

"Mh." Barbara did not react to his question. _I wouldn't care which length it has as long as I were allowed to rake my own fingers through it._ "Working your way through the bushes again, huh?" Now she openly grinned in the most naughty manner she was capable of but then blushed. Somehow it really was fun to see his ears turning red again. And her cheekiness might divert his attention from his play _and_ from her naughty thoughts. _As if..._

"I for one do very much like how you have your hair nowadays." Tommy smiled at her.

Now Barbara's own ears turned deep red while she briskly turned into the direction of the bunker with her golf bag on her shoulder.

* * *

Since Barbara prepared to get that ball out of the sandpit and drilled her feet into the sand to get a strong position for her next swing Tommy watched her fingers searching for the right grip on the club. He wondered since when she was manicuring them and why he never had recognised it before. The back of her hands was smooth and probably her fingertips also were silky. And her nails actually were shining a bit. _Polish?! Barbara is polishing her nails?!_ And they were not simply cut down like she formerly had them. Tommy imagined how her exquisitely shaped fingernails would scratch his back from his nape across his shoulderblade and over his spine down to- _Stop here, Tommy!_ He harrumphed.

Her ball went from the bunker into the rough.

"Ah, _rough_ play, hm?" Tommy chuckled. Barbara just rolled her eyes but he had not seen it because he had forced himself to look away. The way of the ball was a thankful thing to keep his eyes distracted from the sight of Barbara. And it was his turn now anyway.

In a wide arc Tommy's own next ball went into some muddy area once serving as a water hazard. Barbara watched him angrily chewing his bottom lip and could not suppress some sultry thoughts about how it would be to chew on it herself. With her hand in his nape to prevent him from getting away. With their heads inclined and their noses touching. With her teeth softly buried in his flesh. With her other hand on his chest, crumpling his shirt, pulling him close to her.

"Oh, Sir, I think you've reached the wet zone..." She turned and walked away on the fairway. _Concentrate on this golf play, Barbara._ she told herself. _Stop dreaming of kissing him! And stop_ talking _that way!  
_

 _The wet... The_ what _?!_ Tommy stared after her. _I think we've reached the gutter, Barbara!_

* * *

Reaching the little dried pond where Tommy's ball hit the ground with a loud [SPLOD] he placed his ball on its edge. He had tested the muddy ground if he could walk to its middle but it was too deep and he was not in his Wellies.

"Damn." Even his smutty mind was making innuendos now.

"One penalty stroke for you, Sir." Barbara laughed watching his attempt from a little distance and raising her thumb for sarcastically counting one.

"Funny..." he grumbled and forcefully drove his ball back onto the fairway.

Barbara's own attempt to drive her ball out of the rough was not a very concentrated one and therefore not much better so she also had to make an additional stroke along the fairway to be on the same level like Tommy.

Exchanging a few words about how bad their golf play was on this third green they walked along the fairway.

"It only needs more practice and better weather conditions." Barbara suggested. "Not this storm."

It still only was a little bit windy. Nothing that would sidetrack a flying golf ball.

"And a bit more concentration." Tommy added.

 _That's the point._ she thought and turned her eyes away from his back, away from his shoulders, away from the play of his muscles when he took the chosen club out of his bag.

 _But you keep me distracted._ he thought realising that his eyes went to her neck again, now that it was revealed by her hair tied into a pony tail waving in the wind. Realising that his eyes wandered across her waist, across her hip, across her bottom again he deeply inhaled in order to get his focus back on the golf play.

Both their next strokes went into a little wood.

"Bloody wind!"

* * *

After those two extraordinarily bad strokes they walked through that little wood both had driven their balls in. They trampled down nettles and little plants in search of those tiny white orbs.

"They couldn't be too deep in here." Tommy said. "I could swear I've heard one thudding against wood."

Barbara looked up one tree. "Yah, 'n' I think I've found one." she said pointing up. With her club she tried to reach it but she was too short. Forgetting that he was a gentleman Tommy did not help her at all. He just watched her stretching and angling for that ball that was somewhere in the pit of a forked branch. Everything from her toe where she stood on to the tips of her fingers around the club was alluring. Especially those inbetweens that were outlined in the nicest way. It was visibly cooler between the trees and the strained sounds she made also were not much help for Tommy's mind to stay focussed on the search.

"You know, you _could_ help me, Sir." Barbara glared at him.

"Oh, yes, yes... errr... sorry." Tommy easily got the ball down. It was slightly covered with green moss and obviously had been lying there for quite some time.

"Not ours." Tommy stated.

"Nah."

* * *

They continued their search. At one point Barbara just made a few inches from time to time and did not look to the ground at all. She just watched her DI. _Tommy..._ she thought and immediately her mind had wanted to reprimand her for that but then... _It's just in my mind and would not hurt anybody. By the way, haven't I been doing that for years? But whatever... we're the closest of friends for so long now. I really could_ call _him by his given name._ Actually it was a bit odd when they were out for dinner or even once when they had gone to a musical play and she still called him _Sir_. Barbara shook her head. No, she could not do it. Somehow she still needed that barrier for constantly being reminded that he simply was a friend and that her crush on him was futile. She simply would go on like always, calling him _Sir_ and watching his tall figure. Watching that broad chest and strong arms folding this bush. And his bottom when he was bending down for something on the ground. And this imperfectly perfect little bulge that has been created over the years, no fat belly but no muscular sixpack under that shirt either. And his dark eyes that could kill a criminal but now were so warm since he was looking at her with that ice-melting smile. _Wait! What?!_

Barbara's face turned crimson and she quickly continued searching with her eyes glued to the ground. Tommy had caught her staring and she needed to get some yards between them.

 _She had watched me and she had not even recognised it._ Tommy thought. _Maybe...?!_ He did not dare to think about the possibility that Barbara might see more than just a very good friend in him. But hadn't they spent most of their spare time together lately? Hadn't they gone out for dinner on an almost regular basis in the last months? Hadn't they crossed another border of their personal space in the last weeks? Hadn't they spent this entire afternoon trying to pull each other out of their concentration with innuendos with no end? Teasing words, frivolities, open ambiguities? Touches even? _Haven't I watched her the entire day like I do now?_

* * *

"I have one!" Barbara cried. "Oh, bloody. It's a button mushroom. Are there any golf regulations concerning playing with mushrooms?"

Tommy laughed. _And she makes me so absolutely happy._ Briefly they beamed at each other.

Then Barbara searched around a tree and chuckled. She could not stop herself from commenting again. "I never thought that one day I'm in a wood searching for balls with my DI..."

Looking up her grin died when she saw Tommy walking up to her with a grim, with a determined expression on his face. He had made up his mind. _Now! Or never..._ She backed away and felt the stem of the tree in her back but he did not stop but walked straight over to her and finally pushed her firmly up against that tree. Without further ado he crushed his lips on hers.

This was no soft and testing kiss like he had imagined he would give her. Neither was it answered brief and innocent.

* * *

The heavy push made Barbara exhale open mouthed and Tommy needed no more invitation to let his tongue dart between her lips. He really had not initially wanted to be so passionate but now his hands grabbed her waist and pulled her hips close to his while his chest pushed her against the wood. Barbara immediately responded to his desirous kiss. She let her tongue fight with his and one hand moved up into his nape keeping his head close to hers. The other clenched around his shoulder crumpling the cloth of his T-shirt, pulling him close to her. He could feel the reaction of her entire body against his. She could feel her own desire suddenly overboil. He could feel the radiating outburst of emotions between them. She could feel his desire pressing into her lower body.

He kissed her senseless until she actually sank down with weak knees when he finally let go of her and stepped back a few feet. Redfaced and heavily breathing he raked through his hair.

"I told you to stop those innuendos." he panted. His eyes were as wide as hers. _Did I actually do what I think I did?_

"You haven't, Sir." Barbara rasped. Her voice sounded exhausted.

With one longe stride Tommy came back to the tree and kneeling in front of her he pulled her close to his chest again and gave her another passionate kiss which was answered as fiercely as the one before.

"Tommy!" he panted when they came up for oxygene. "My name... is _Tommy_!"

"Tommy!" she breathlessly whispered and their next kiss almost ended with both lying flush on the forest floor but before that happened Tommy managed to recall some good behaviour.

He got up and helped her back into a standing position but he did not let her go off his arms. They stared at each other for a while. There was relief in both their eyes. Relief that they finally had stepped across that line and relief that it was appreciated on both sides and the feelings obviously answered.

Then Tommy blushed. "Sorry!" he whispered and tuck a dishevelled strand of hair behind her ear. "I initially had wanted to kiss you much more gentle when you had won this match."

"I was sure _you_ 'd win, Sir. Tommy." Barbara shyly smiled. "And I'd be given the chance to congratulate _you_ with a kiss!"

"I'd say we're even." he breathed onto her welcoming lips.

"You bet!" she murmured with his bottom lip between her teeth.

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 **Author's note:** Sorry to all those who had expected a nine hole story ;-) Also sorry if any of the golf terms are wrongly translated, not every innuendo was clear and may only sound ambiguous in my German thinking and some of the _strikes_ , _strokes_ and _strucks_ are mixed up but I think the meanings were clear *winks*

Thanks for reading and reviewing!


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